‘Christian Kobi, Hans Koch and Paed Conca’ at IRTIJAL ’15 International Festival of Experimental Music in Lebanon

Founded in 2000, Irtijal is presently the oldest music festival of the city of Beirut, and one of the longest standing international festivals of post-war Lebanon. Irtijal is organized by MILL, a non-profit association founded in 2000 by musicians Mazen Kerbaj and Sharif Sehnaoui, with the intent of promoting contemporary and experimental practices in music, and assisting projects that do not fit within the Lebanese mainstream, yet still present undeniable artistic value.

Born in Berne, Switzerland, Christian Kobi first studied classical music in Basel, followed by further studies in the fields of improvisation and contemporary composition in Paris, Lucerne and Zurich. He is the founder and artistic director of »zoom in«, a festival for improvised music in Berne, and the co-founder of experimental music label Cubus Records. Kobi has performed extensively at home and abroad, solo and together with various improvising music ensembles. His regular recording and touring partners include Fritz Hauser, John Butcher, Lionel Marchetti, Christian Wolff and Sylvie Courvoisier, among others.

Hailing from Biel, Switzerland, Hans Koch studied at the Conservatory in Biel and Zurich, and began his musical career as a classical clarinetist. He met Martin Schütz at the Conservatory in 1978, following which the two musicians formed a jazz trio, influenced by Horace Silver and John Coltrane, as well as “freer” jazz musicians such as Albert Ayler, Steve Lacy, Anthony Braxton and Evan Parker, before gradually moving to compose their own pieces. During the 80’s, Koch was also a member of Swiss saxophonist Werner Lüdi’s Sunnymoon, alongside Martin Schütz, Stephan Wittwer and Paul Lovens. While on an artist residence in New York in 1987, he played with Andrew Cyrille, Butch Morris, Shelley Hirsch and David Moss, among many others. In 1988, he was a member of the Cecil Taylor European Orchestra. He formed the trio Koch-Schütz-Studer at the beginning of the 90’s.

Born in Berne, Switzerland, bass and clarinet player Paed Conca is an experienced musician in the fields of experimental music, improvised music and electronic, for the past 20 years or so. He has written music for theatre, dance, film productions and small ensembles, and has toured extensively in Europe, Russia, Japan and Lebanon, with a vast array of international musicians. His numerous projects, past and present, include Blast4tet (with Dirk Bruinsma, Frank Crijns and Fabrizio Spera), Best Before (with Bruno Meillier and Dominique Lentin), Cleee (with Martin Schütz, Patricia Wydmer, Madeleine Bishop, Margrit Rieben, Thomas Meier and Dirk Bruinsma), Bushwac (with Steve Buchanan), Praed (with Raed Yassin), and Porta Chiusa (with Michael Thieke and Hans Koch).

Cost
25,000 LL

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